NEW YORK – The No. 44
Columbia men’s tennis team opened up the 2013 campaign Monday at the Dick
Savitt Tennis Center hosting No. 58 Brigham Young. Competition proved tight
throughout the match, but it would be BYU that would capture the 4-3 victory.

Play began with the
doubles matches, as the Lions took two of three to earn the point. Dragos Ignat
and Eric Rubin came out at a blistering pace, sweeping Travis Fillmore and Spencer Smith , 8-0, in the No. 3 match. Max Schnur and Ashok Narayana faced a tougher
challenge in the No. 1 match, but used the tiebreaker to down Patrick Kawka and Francis Sargeant, 8-7.

Narayana and Ignat
also won their respective singles matches. In a three-set thriller, Narayana
downed Smith, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in the No. 2 match, while Ignat knocked off
Cullimore, 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 3 match. Unfortunately, the Cougars would take
the remaining four singles matches to earn the team victory.

The Lions will next be
in action Jan. 25-26 when they compete in the ITA Kick-Off Classic in Oxford,
Miss. Columbia will face No. 13 Ole Miss on Jan. 25th and then face either No.
40 NC State or No. 34 Louisville the following morning.